How you pay your bills in the EU?

[u/Physical-Incident553]

GenX American here. I’ve been having a lively debate with friends (my age or younger) who insist on writing checks/cheques for all their usual household bills (mortgage/rent, utilities, car loan, etc.). They think they will be hacked if they pay bills through their bank’s app or allow direct debit. They write checks to send gift money through the mail or to put into a card for a wedding gift. I’m not one of those people. I’ve been paying all bills online back to mid-2000s. Finally got landlord to accept a bank transfer for rent 5-7 years ago. My utilities are direct debited. I use Apple Pay heavily for in store and some online purchases with debit/credit cards. I use US payment apps such as Venmo to transfer money to friends. PayPal is often used, too. Having your salary/wages paid direct into your bank account is extremely common here, though. So how do YOU pay for things an American would use a check/cheque for? Which apps do you use to transfer money to friend to split a dinner or the like?

[u/iolaus79]

UK

Most bills - direct debit

Otherwise bank transfer - both to business and between friends

Not sure if I have a cheque book anymore (there may be one in the junk drawer but it's probably from the early 2000s

ETA I brought my first house in the 1990s - all bills were by direct debit (aside from council tax - which you paid at the post office). Bank transfer between friends I'd say maybe 6-7 years, prior to that it was paypal for about 10 years before that

[u/becka-uk → u/iolaus79]

To add, most shops stopped taking cheques over 10 years ago

[u/drplokta → u/becka-uk]

That's because cheque guarantee cards stopped being valid in June 2011. After that point a shop had no way to tell if a cheque received in payment would be honoured by the bank.

[u/Speshal__ → u/becka-uk]

I haven't had a chequebook since 2002

[u/[deleted] → u/iolaus79]

I'm even older. I bought my first house in 1985, even then I paid everything via direct debit. I think it was only my credit card bill that I paid by cheque.

Also to answer the OPs other question - In the UK we do not use any special app, everything is via the bank's app.

[u/hetsteentje → u/[deleted]]

You do payments in shops via the bank app?

[u/[deleted] → u/hetsteentje]

The question was about transferring money to friends etc. In which case most new banks have ways to pay in the banking app and there is always a standard bank transfer using the banks app.

I don't have a bank account that allows me to pay a shop cashier with the banking app. All the accounts I have push you to add your card to Google Wallet.

For larger sums, like a car, faster payments using a bank transfer using the banking app is common.

[u/iolaus79 → u/hetsteentje]

Not shops but plumbers, beauty therapists etc

When you transfer it asks if it's to a business account

[u/Resident_Pay4310 → u/hetsteentje]

Compared to many countries in Euro0e, the UK is a bit behind.

There are no transfer apps like MobilePay, Vipps, etc. Some people have Revolut/Wise/Monzo, but it's far from everybody. Most transfers are done via bank transfers or PayPal. Cash is also still quite common.

When it comes to money I really miss Scandinavia.

[u/gwodus → u/[deleted]]

I love how, when I'm in the UK, you can pay with a card almost everywhere, even for small things like fish and chips or a hot dog at a street food stall. Here in Austria, about 90% of places accept debit or credit cards, but there are still a lot of places like street food stalls, small shops, and even some bars and restaurants, where it's cash only.

Lately, I buy almost everything using my watch (which is connected to my bank account), and it really annoys me when I have to fumble for coins because they don’t accept cards.

[u/deadliftbear → u/iolaus79]

Add to that – many companies penalise you for paying my a method other than DD. I remember years ago my mother had to pay BT a “convenience fee” for paying the bill at a shop. She moved to DD pretty quickly.

[u/90210fred → u/iolaus79]

A few years ago, I needed a cheque to pay something. Dug out my chequebook, it said "Lloyds Bank" on it. That's the Lloyds from before it became Lloyds TSB. And this was after it sold TSB. I think the date was prepopulated with 19xx. 

Haven't used a cheque since

[u/hetsteentje → u/iolaus79]

I just canceled my PayPal account the other day, and briefly thought about how novel it was back in the day, and now it's just another payment app.

[u/crucible → u/iolaus79]

Our Council Tax is Direct Debit now, as are most of our utilities.

Paid the water bill direct through our water company’s site last month.

[u/alexrepty → u/iolaus79]

UK? The question said “in the EU” 😉

[u/iolaus79 → u/alexrepty]

That's true (and I admit I missed it) but the subreddit is ask Europe not just EU and the UK is still within Europe